


Fire (Loki's Daughter)

by daisy_is_always_cold



Series: Anything But Ordinary(Daughter of Loki) [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Fire, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-10-21 18:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17647742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisy_is_always_cold/pseuds/daisy_is_always_cold
Summary: Cameron Granger discovers life with the Avengers and they discover who her father is.





	1. Chapter 1

chapter 1: not all oddities are accepted  
song: 10 feet tall -- cavetown

 

If there was anything that Cameron E. Granger considered herself to be, it was not normal. Ever since she could talk, she’d been about to list any number of things that set her apart from the average human being. She could even give you a paper copy of the list she had made when she was eight. If you couldn’t tell by now, she prided herself upon being out of the ordinary.

She was fourteen now, old enough move past her obsession with being special, or at least that’s what her mother had said when she was ten. Cameron had just begun school at none other than Midtown High, her foster parents had enrolled her approximately nine days, twelve hours, and forty-seven minutes after they had taken her in. She was in ninth grade, though if any one of the administration had listened to her, she would have been in at least eleventh. She was a slight genius, something her mother had completely overlooked when she was younger. Perhaps if Mary Granger had thought of anything beyond how much she wished her daughter wasn’t such a burden, Cameron would’ve turned out a whole different child. Yet here she was, on her first day of school at Midtown High, a smile on her face, the Cameron that she had always been, even when no one cared enough to notice.

The front doors to the school were made of giant window panes, the exact same as any other school you’d ever go to, and yet even that was interesting to Cameron. As she walked towards the door, she traced the outline of the panes with her eyes and watched the reflection of herself grow bigger as she approached. The metal of the door handle was cold to her touch, a nice sensation against her burning skin. She stepped into the building and felt the rush of confidence push her towards the front office on her left. She watched her footsteps as she went, making a rounded path with her feet, round things had always interested her.   
The inside of the office was much the same as the little she’d seen of the rest of the school, bland, industrial, exactly what it needed to be. “Hello, my name is Cameron E. Granger.” She smiled at the inherently bored woman behind the tall desk. “You must be the new student.” The woman replied without much excitement. She stood up and went over to a table in the corner, picked up a few papers and returned to the desk at the front of the small space. “Here’s your schedule and a map of the school. If you need any help, come talk to me later.” The woman said, the same bored tone as before. She clearly didn’t want to be here. This interested Cameron, she had always found the human brain to be most fascinating. She wanted to ask what the woman found so boring about this place, it seemed exciting enough, but her mother had taught her from a young age that it wasn’t polite to ask questions, especially not to those in charge. “Thank you.” Cameron flashed the woman another one of her million-dollar smiles before exiting the office. 

The bell had yet to ring so Cameron had time to find her locker before going to her first class. The sheet of paper that the woman in the office had given her told her that her locker was on the first floor. She followed the map to the best of her abilities, and with some smarts, but mostly luck, she found the metal box that had been assigned to her. There was a boy at the locker next to hers, he looked to be at least two years older than her. She attempted to open her locker with the combo provided on the paper, immediately finding out that the code she had been given was not correct, at least that was the only option, she knew she’d put the code in correctly. She tried to pull on the locker, wondering if that would open it to no avail. Her face dropped a little as she discovered a problem she wasn’t quite sure how to fix. Those problems had become more and more rare. The boy at the locker next to her was watching her at this point, curious about how the girl would react. There was something about the girl that set him off, set off his spider sense to be exact. He wasn’t exactly sure what a small-framed girl like her could do that would make her dangerous enough to set off Peter Parker’s spider sense and he was sure as hell going to figure out what. The thing was, he knew exactly how to open the locker so when Cameron huffed in annoyance and turned to leave, he finally decided to intervene. “You just gotta hit it really hard.” He said, kindly, banging his fist into the locker and praying that it wouldn’t leave a dent from his superstrength. Thank Thor it hadn’t. Cameron’s pleasant demeanor returned quickly as she smiled. “Thanks. I was about to give up on the thing.” She replied. “I’m Cameron.” She said, extending her hand. Peter stared at her for a moment before responding, “Peter.” He shook her hand, it wasn’t often that people at this school would even introduce themselves, let alone shake his hand. There was something about this girl he didn’t quite understand, and he didn’t like it. 

First period was math, something Cameron found easy. She stepped through the threshold and found the only open seat, somewhere in the middle, right next to the window. This was lucky, of course, because when Cameron inevitably got bored, she could find endless possibilities of things to do while staring out the window. Mr. Glasgow saw the new student take her seat, so of course, when everyone had settled, he called her to attention, “Ah, Cameron, I heard that you’d be joining our class, would you like to introduce yourself?” He addressed her. “No, I wouldn’t,” Cameron said, contently. Mr. Glasgow was taken aback by this. He couldn’t think of a student who’d ever had the courage to deny his request. “Okay, well, everyone, this is Cameron.” He pointed towards the girl and she waved a little before returning to the doodle she had begun on her paper. She caught a few stares, a boy in the back of the classroom, the girl sitting next to her, and someone else in the corner. She didn’t notice though. She was used to the stares, ever since she’d begun dyeing her hair three years ago. People were bound to stare at you if you had bright orange hair. 

The class passed quickly, as did Chemistry and English. The classes were as easy as she had expected, there was hardly a need for her to pay attention. She stopped by her locker one more time, on her way to lunch. Peter, the boy she’d met earlier wasn’t there, but she tried his trick anyway. Of course, it worked. She was thankful for the boy, the only person other than the teachers that she’d talked to today. She dropped off her books before heading to the lunchroom with the food she’d packed that morning. She hadn’t packed much, she’d never been much of an eater, only eating small amounts of food at each meal, often skipping one of the three. Today, she simply had a chunk of cheese that she’d cut off of the block that morning as well as the second pancake that she didn’t eat at breakfast. 

She found a table that was mostly empty, only a boy and a girl on the other end of it. Through her time studying and being interested in the human brain, she had learned that it was best to let people come talk to her rather than to force herself into other people’s lives. For this reason, she sat alone, hardly touching her food and completely engrossed in the novel she was currently in the middle of. Much to her surprise, a few minutes after she sat down and opened her book, Peter sat down with the two people at the other end of the table. She watched them for a moment before returning to her novel. 

Peter sat down with his friends, eager to discuss his interaction with the new girl. MJ and Ned had beaten him to their usual table. He rushed through the lunchroom, hoping to both avoid Flash and reach his friends quickly. He was successful, only running into one other kid. He slid into his seat and sat his tray of cafeteria food down on the table, only to see the new girl perched on the other end of the table reading a book. “Who’s the new girl?” Ned asked no one in particular. “I don’t know much about her, but her name’s Cameron,” Peter said, quietly enough that he hoped she would hear. “How’d you meet her? We’re definitely not in the same grade.”   
“Her locker’s next to mine and I helped her open it, she got 106.” Ned understood immediately, no one liked 106, it always got stuck. “There’s something off about her though.” Peter sighed, trying to stare at the girl somewhat discreetly.   
“What, are your spider senses tingling?” MJ said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. Ever since she’d found out Peter was Spiderman, she’d found every opportunity to make jokes about it.  
“Yes, actually it is,” Peter responded.  
“What do you think her deal is?” Ned asked.  
“I don’t really know.” Peter said, “But my spider sense is going off again. I don’t really know how some small human could be dangerous. Plus from the forty-ish seconds we interacted, she seemed pretty nice.”   
“Maybe she’s hiding a dark past.” MJ joked.   
“Could be.” Peter took her seriously again. It was starting to bother MJ how he would do that. She wondered if he was just trying to piss her off. If he was, it was working.   
“We’ll just have to watch her,” Ned said. 

The girl removed her focus from the book in order to eat a small amount of the food that was sitting in front of her. Peter did his best to find out what it was and his best guess was a pancake. She moved the pancake a few inches away from her and set it on the table. The three friends were fascinated by whatever it was she was doing. She put her book around the front of her pancake so that if you were sitting at the table across from her, you wouldn’t be able to see it. She proceeded to place her finger about four inches about the pancake. Peter stared at her with even more curiosity. It appeared as though she was trying to concentrate greatly on whatever it was she was about to do. It only took a split second for the events to unfold that told Peter exactly why his spider-sense had been going off like mad. Her finger lit on fire, as though it were a match, the bright orange and yellow flames enveloped her finger, warming the pancake on the table. When it was adequately warm, the fire went out as quick as it had come, and she took a bite of the pancake before returning to her book as though nothing had happened. 

1904 words


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cameron meets a friend, stops a bully, and goes home.

chapter 2: what accompanies the anger is not advised  
song: monster -- dodie

 

Cameron E. Granger could only list three people that she’d ever called friends and it wasn’t for lack of trying. She had often found it hard to relate to children, despite the fact that she was one. She had given up making friends a long time ago, deciding that there were more important things to her than creating bonds with other tiny humans. That was why she was extremely and utterly surprised when someone approached her during her study period. She was sitting at a table in the corner of the library reading the book she was behind on thanks to starting a new school in the middle of the year. She had made it to page thirty when she was interrupted. Someone sat down across from her.  
“So, you’re new.”   
“Yup,” Cameron replied.  
“Ainsley.” She said, extending her hand.  
“Cameron,” Cameron replied, taking her hand and shaking it firmly.  
“I like your hair,” Ainsley said.  
“Thanks, I’m thinking about dyeing it a nice shade of plum next.”   
“Cool.” Ainsley paused, glancing at Cameron’s hair again.  
“So, what’s your story.” She asked.  
Cameron looked at her, slightly confused. “What do you mean?”   
“Well, hardly anyone starts a new school in the middle of the year, so, what’s your story?”   
Cameron closed the book in her hand and set it down on the table. She wondered what made this girl intent on learning her origin. She had no intent on revealing her past, she’d rather learn about the girl sitting across from her and what her interest was in Cameron. “I was born into a small family of dragons.” She started. Ainsley laughed a little. “No, seriously, what’s your story?” Ainsley asked. You see, Ainsley, much like Cameron had quite a lot of interest in humanity, and from what she could tell, Cameron was out of the ordinary. 

They stayed like that for a while, taking turns deflecting the others’ questions, asking new ones. Cameron began to wonder if she was about to add a fourth person to her small list of friends. The final bell rang and the two parted ways, though not before sharing phone numbers. Cameron made the trek across the school to her locker, performing Peter’s trick once again. By the time she had reached her locker, most of the school was empty, Cameron always took her time when possible. There was hardly anyone in the hallways, only a few people at the other end of the corridor in which her locker sat. She put in the combo and hit the locker door hard to open it. Of course, it worked. She began to neatly place her assortment of textbooks and notebooks that she’d acquired over the course of the day into her backpack. She got about halfway through before she heard a noise. She turned away from a locker to see a boy with darker hair attacking one with lighter hair. She watched a series of events unfold, the attacker calling to boy weak and a liar. She watched interestedly, she wasn’t sure what was going on. It didn’t take long for the interaction between the two boys to become physical. The darker haired one had launched a punch towards the lighter haired one’s stomach. Cameron decided that it was the right moment to intervene. She may love watching people’s actions play out, but this was too much, even for her. 

Cameron began walking towards the two boys in bursts of three steps. Why? Three had always been a number that she found comfort in and she knew that she was about to do something that she’d probably regret doing. It took her about a minute to be recognized by the two, she had been quite far originally and walking in bursts of three isn’t always the fastest method of travel. The darker haired boy stopped attacking the visibly smaller boy to look at the small girl. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” The dark haired boy asked the girl, anger in his eyes. She looked at the other boy, it only took her a second to register the boy as Peter Parker, the boy who had helped her open her locker that morning. It took him even less time to recognize her, his spider-sense letting him know. “Cameron! Get out of here!” He whisper yelled at the girl. “You know this kid?” The other boy asked. Peter stayed quiet.   
“Answer the damn question!” Flash said, shoving Peter a little.   
“N-no, I-” Peter started but Cameron cut him off.  
“Met him this morning.” She said with a smile on her face. To anyone outside of her brain, it would look as though she was just a clueless child. She wasn’t, anyone who saw a glimpse of her thoughts could guarantee it.   
“So you’re new?” the dark-haired boy asked, his eyes narrowing.   
“Flash, just leave her alone.” Peter sighed, defeat dripping from his voice. Cameron looked at the boy. “Thank you, Peter, but I don’t need you to stand up for me. I can take care of myself.”   
Flash sniggered. “How can a small girl like you ‘take care of yourself’?” He looked her up and down before continuing, “If you’re so intent on taking care of yourself, you’re welcome to join Penis.” He pointed to the boy that he’d cornered into a wall. “No, thank you,” Cameron replied matter of factly. Flash took a step closer to her. “I told you to join him.” He said angrily. Cameron stayed planted in her spot. Peter sighed, he’d tried to help the girl, he figured she couldn’t take a beating like he could, he’d gotten somewhat used to it over the years. “Get over there now. I’m not afraid to punch a girl.” Flash said in a deadly tone.   
“You’d have to land the punch in order for it to count, you know.” She said. 

That was it. That was enough to send Flash over the edge. He took one more step towards the girl before launching a punch towards her face. She caught the fist in her hand and you could see the flames in her eyes, it was as though she’d tapped into some power reserve. Fueled by the flames in her eyes and the heat in her veins, she squeezed his fist tightly before twisting it to the left. If she’d gone any further, she’d’ve broken his wrist. Peter moved away from the wall he’d been pinned against as he watched the girl measure a counterattack on the unsuspecting Flash. He had noticed the flames in her eyes. He wondered if they were connected fire that had shot out of her finger at lunch. What was this girl hiding? She let go of the fist and shoved her heat-fueled fist into his stomach. That was all it took to send Flash flying backward. “It’s impolite to take on more than you can chew.” She said before turning to Peter. “You good?” She asked him, the flames disappearing from her eyes. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine,” Peter replied, doing his best to hide the apparent shock on his face. 

She turned back to Flash, only to see him running off, both afraid of the girl and in pain. She headed back down the hallway, counting to three over and over as she went. She couldn’t afford to let the anger take over, not again. She packed the rest of her things quickly and shoved her earbuds into her ears, playing soft jazz as she left. The jazz mixed with the counting began to revive her usually happy demeanor. It was as if she’d thrown a blanket over the anger that she’d shown Peter’s bully. Peter watched her leave, amazed at the events that had just unfolded. When she was out of eyesight, he checked his phone. Two missed calls from Mr. Stark. Shit. He had to run to the tower, he hoped the bruise on his face would heal before he arrived. He had to tell Mr. Stark about the peculiar girl he had met today.   
Cameron stepped into the house just as the remainder of her anger disappeared. This was perfect of course, she couldn’t let her foster family see what accompanied her anger. Mrs. Taylor was home from work as well as the only other child in the house. Mrs. Taylor had insisted that Cameron call her Rachel, but Cameron couldn’t bring herself to drop the formalities, she didn’t want to get too attached to the place she would inevitably have to leave. Mrs. Taylor worked as an elementary school teacher, which was perfect, seeing as her eight-year-old son John attended the same school. She was making him a snack when Cameron arrived in the kitchen, winding up her earbuds in a tight oval.   
“How was your first day of school, Cameron?” She asked.  
“It was wonderful.” Cameron smiled at the woman. “I met a few people and got a lot of work that I need to do to catch up.”  
“Well, that should keep you busy for a while, shouldn’t it?”   
“Most definitely,” Cameron responded, sliding onto a bar stool.  
“Would you like a snack along with John?”   
“Nah, I’m good,” Cameron replied as she pulled out the note that Ainsley had written her phone number on that afternoon. She wanted to put the number in her phone before she forgot or lost the slip of paper. Cameron was the queen of losing things. Some had even gone so far as to call it a talent. She entered the number into her phone and set the contact as ‘Ainsley’. She’d forgotten to ask the girl’s last name.   
“Whatcha got there?” Mrs. Taylor asked.  
“A phone number. I met a girl named Ainsley today and she gave me her number.”   
“Cool, so you made a friend.”   
“At least one.”  
“What do you mean, ‘at least one’?”   
“Well there’s Ainsley, but there was also this other boy who I met.”  
“And…?”  
“I don’t really know if he wants to be my friend or if it’s just luck that he helped me out this morning and I helped him out this afternoon.”   
Mrs. Taylor decided not to push it too much, she had yet to learn the ways of this girl that she had let into her home and she didn’t know exactly how willing to talk the strange girl was.

Cameron sat at the counter for a little longer before deciding to go to the guest room that had been christened hers when she arrived. She had quite a bit of homework to do and she was itching to write about her day. She had a journal, and it wasn’t like a diary, it was a journal where she wrote about whatever she wanted to, and the first day at a new school was good enough to write about. She worked on homework for the next few hours and didn’t have time to write in her journal before dinner. Unlike the last few places she’d lived, at the Taylor household, it was required that everyone attend dinner together at the table, no exceptions. Mrs. Taylor called everyone to dinner at about six pm. They held hands and Mr. Taylor led grace. Cameron had never been a religious person herself but she was happy to allow others to believe in something beyond the world.   
Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs. Cameron took a small portion for herself, doing her best to avoid the meatballs. Mrs. Taylor noticed this, “Do you not like meatballs?” She asked the girl sitting across from her.   
“I’m just a vegetarian,” Cameron responding, hoping Mrs. Taylor wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. She really didn’t want to inconvenience this family anymore than she already had. They were a nice family and she didn’t want to ruin them. She didn’t want to leave any more destruction in her wake than she had before. 

She was going to do better this time, and that was a promise. 

1995 words


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Third-degree burns, suspension, cupcakes, and Tony Stark

chapter 3: mistakes were made  
song: boys will be bugs -- cavetown

The second day of Cameron E. Granger’s time at Midtown High was nothing like the first. In fact, she could hardly list any parallels between the two days. She arrived at the school approximately ten minutes before the first bell rang. Rather than the jazz of yesterday, her earbuds were playing a waltz today. She loved the steady 1,2,3 1,2,3 that came with it. She was walking towards her locker when she noticed the first stare. It was from some older students, she assumed it had to do with the fact that she was still a new student. The second was from a group of girls on the opposite side of the hall. She assumed it had to do with her very bright hair. The third was from Peter Parker. That was one she had expected. She’d pulled something out of the pit of her stomach yesterday that merited stares. She arrived at her locker and placed her backpack in it along with the books that she didn’t need. The stares didn’t stop as she closed her locker and they didn’t stop when the bell rang and she began her trek to her first class. They didn’t stop in the classroom either. In fact, they only intensified as the day went on. It was as if people had decided that they would all notice the new girl today. 

She sat down at the end of the same table she’d sat at during lunch yesterday. She pulled a book out of her backpack and began to read. She’d only packed an energy bar for lunch today. She sat quietly reading her book for most of the lunch period before someone spoke up. Two older kids appeared behind her. They stood there for a moment, waiting for her to acknowledge them. She had realized they were behind her the moment that they’d arrived but she’d ignored it. She hoped that they’d retreat if she just ignored her. She should have expected that they wouldn’t but she couldn’t help the sliver of hope that she held. Finally one of them tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to face the two as they glared at her. “Heard you hurt Flash yesterday.”   
She smiled at them. “Is that what this is about?” She asked, trying to untwist the knot of anger that was forming in her stomach.   
Peter and his friends watched from the other side of the table. When the two kids approached, Peter had quickly identified them as Flash’s lackeys. He knew this was not a good sign. He wasn’t sure who he was afraid for, the girl could obviously hold her own, but these two jerks were easily twice her size. He watched as she smiled at them. He didn’t understand how she could be so incredibly clueless. He’d told Mr. Stark about the girl and he’d said that the best thing to do was to just observe while he did some research into the girl, and then, maybe they’d bring her in, test her powers, make sure she was stable. And that’s what Peter did. He watched as the small girl addressed a situation that could clearly mark her level of stability.

Cameron smiled again. “If you’d really like to know, I may have. I don’t know how hard of a hit he can take.”  
The two boys glared at her, hatred in their eyes. “You broke two of his ribs!” One of them spoke up. At this point, almost the entirety of the cafeteria was watching the interaction.   
“Oh, well I’m sure he deserved it.” She said, still smiling.   
This was enough to send the jerk on the left over the edge. He grabbed the fabric covering her shoulder and pulled her up by it. “Nobody hurts Flash and gets away with it.” He said, angered. “Really? Cause I’m pretty sure I’m about to.” Cameron said, still smiling. The other students couldn’t understand why this girl seemed to still be radiating happiness in a situation where she was probably about to receive a beating. The other boy lifted his fist and Peter couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s enough!” He stood up. The two boys turned to face the other. “Penis? What’re you gonna do? Huh?” One taunted.   
That was enough time for Cameron to jab an extremely hot finger into one’s side. Peter watched as the flames took over her eyes again. The one who had received the jab screamed as he fell backward. Cameron looked at him, “That was enough heat to cause third-degree burns, and you know the thing about third-degree burns?” She took a step closer to him. “They destroy the nerve endings and the worst part of that? You won’t be able to feel anything on that spot, the only part that’ll hurt is the area around it. And it’ll hurt, the pain will feel unbearable.” The boy that had fallen started to inch away, the pain still affecting him in great amounts. “So don’t touch me again.” She said in a deadly tone. The other boy had enough sense not to get near her. The demonstration on the first boy was enough to get him away from her. She resituated her shirt before returning to her seat and picking up her novel, the flames disappearing from her eyes as she went. She’d almost gone off the edge that time, she was dangerously close. 

The students in the cafeteria were all in some kind of shock. This girl had taken on two guys twice her size and taken down one with a jab to the side. And what was it that she’d said about third-degree burns, what did that have to do with anything? There were a few moments of silence before the conversations started again, though they were almost all about her. 

Peter sat with his friends. The other two had the same questions as the rest of the students but Peter had some different ones. He wanted to know what was with the flames in her eyes, they hadn’t appeared in her eyes when she heated her lunch yesterday, and yet they had when she’d encountered the bullies, both times. He wanted to know why every time she had those flames in her eyes, her happy demeanor disappeared. He wanted to know who this girl was and how she’d managed to piss off three of the biggest bullies in the first two days of school. 

Cameron was unmoved by the stares and the conversations that were obviously about her. She knew that at the rate she was going, she’d probably be in a new foster home in less than a week. And honestly, she was fine with that. She’d moved so much over the past few years, she’d learned how to cut connections with the family if she needed to, which she usually did. She wondered how long it would be before they gave up on putting her in foster homes and instead decided to send her to some orphanage. It probably wasn’t long. The bell rang as a signal that it was time to go to her next class, and she didn’t even make it before she was caught by a member of the administration. Peter watched this, as he happened to be in the hallway, and immediately knew he had to call Mr. Stark. The administration was going to ask questions, and she’d either have to skirt them or tell the truth about her apparent powers, and neither outcomes were good. She’d need to meet the Avengers much sooner than expected.

The office that she was sent into was nice. Simple decorations marked the walls. She assumed that it must be the principal’s office. She’d accounted for her actions when she’d attacked the jerk in the cafeteria. She knew exactly what she’d say. One of her foster parents had been a lawyer, after all, she’d picked up a few things. She sat there and waited for someone to come and speak to her, and sure enough, after a few minutes of waiting, a man came in to speak with her. He introduced himself as Principal Morita.   
“So, Cameron, frankly, I don’t understand what happened today, do you think you could tell me?”   
He said, treating her as though she was much younger than her age.   
“It’s simple, I was eating my lunch when two older kids approached me. They were upset for reasons I know not, and I tried to have a conversation with them. They got angry and started to physically attack me when Peter Parker told them to stop. It distracted them so I used that time to stab my fork into the one who was still holding onto my shirt.”   
“Really? How do you explain the apparent burn that the boy you stabbed received?”   
“The fork was hot, I’d accidentally left it in the microwave with my food.”   
“Hot enough to give him a third-degree burn while leaving you in no pain whatsoever?”   
“I don’t feel things very well in my right hand.” She said quickly.  
“And why is that?”   
“A house fire when I was little left me with some burns I call second and a half degree burns.”   
“Why do you call them that?”  
“They partially burned my nerve endings but not the whole way.” She pushed further into the lie.   
Principal Morita didn’t really believe the story but the girl sounded sincere. He decided not to push it further, if she was in fact lying, she wasn’t going to stop.  
“So you claim you hurt the boy in self-defense?”   
“Yes. I do.”   
“And you say that Peter Parker was there as well?”   
“Well, I assume he was watching because he tried to get them to stop.”   
“And he could corroborate your story?”   
“I believe so, yes.” She responded, secretly hoping that Peter would. He kind of owed her after yesterday.   
Principal Morita changed the subject. “Could you tell me about your situation at home?”   
“I hardly see how that’s important,” Cameron replied.  
“Well, I often find that children’s actions at school are often somewhat affected by their lives at home.”   
“If you must know, I’m a foster child.”  
“Really? Do you know anything about your biological parents?”   
“Nothing I feel comfortable sharing with you,” Cameron said matter of factly.  
Principal Morita was taken aback a little, it seemed as though his authority over her meant nothing to her.   
“Well, please know that even though you claim you acted out of defense, I still have to give you some sort of punishment. I’m sorry, but you are suspended for the next two days.” At this Cameron slumped. She knew that the Taylors were going to be disappointed. “I’ve contacted your parental guardians and someone should be here in about ten minutes to pick you up.” 

It only took Cameron a few seconds to return her smile to her face. She couldn’t let the feelings in the pit of her stomach take over. She was going to take her punishment and deal with it, even if it meant that the Taylors decided that she wasn’t the best fit for their family. She’d been told that many times before, she could hear it again. She sat outside the office and waited for someone to arrive to pick her up. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Mrs. Taylor arrived, a look of worry on her face. Cameron returned into the office with Mrs. Taylor to have another chat with Morita. After Mrs. Taylor heard the story, she was slightly outraged. She couldn’t understand why these two older, bigger boys had attacked the young girl, and yet Cameron was getting in trouble. Cameron did her best to convince Mrs. Taylor that it was fine, she’d take her punishment and move on, but the woman wasn’t convinced. It was only after Morita explained that Cameron’s ‘victim’ had received third-degree burns that she resigned to the small girl’s fate. 

They returned to the car after Cameron had gotten her things from her locker. They drove home in silence, neither knowing what to say. Just as they turned onto their street, Mrs. Taylor spoke up, “I just don’t understand why those two boys would want to hurt you.” She said, worry and anger still echoing in her voice. She paused before looking over at Cameron. “Do you have any idea.”  
Cameron sighed. She could either lie with the possibility of Mrs. Taylor finding out the truth later or just tell the truth a risk everything. She decided she’d just have to tell some version of the truth. “I tried to get their friend to stop hurting another kid yesterday.” She said quietly. Mrs. Taylor looked at the girl as she turned into the driveway. She sighed. She felt bad for the kid, she knew Cameron had had a rough childhood and she couldn’t understand why the girl couldn’t catch a break. “Well, I’m proud of you for trying to defend another kid, but it might just be better for you to stay away in the future.”  
“I know,” Cameron said. They both climbed out of the car and Cameron grabbed her backpack. Mrs. Taylor unlocked the door and they stepped inside the house. “I took off the rest of the day and I arranged for John to take the bus home, so we can do whatever you want.” Cameron stayed quiet. She couldn’t understand why this woman wasn’t mad at her, she’d gotten into a fight on her second day of school. Mrs. Taylor looked at the girl. “I want you to know that you’re not in trouble, I know that you were just trying to defend yourself. You can spend the next two days doing whatever you want, it’s still not fair that they suspended you in the first place.”  
Cameron smiled at this. It felt good to have someone on her side.   
“Why don’t we make some cupcakes for after dinner?” Mrs. Taylor suggested, making an attempt at connecting with the girl.   
“Yeah, that sounds like fun.” 

They began the process, making the batter and putting it into the cupcake liners. They put the first batch in the oven and Cameron sat down at the counter, watching as the woman across from her went through the process of cleaning off the counter. It seemed so normal for this woman, hanging out with a child and bonding over baked goods. Cameron had never done anything like this before, she was extremely grateful to Mrs. Taylor, no, Rachel, for everything that she’d done for Cameron, even just in the past few hours. 

They got halfway through making the chocolate icing when Cameron heard the doorbell ring. Rachel did her best to wipe off her hands before going to answer the door, Cameron stayed in the kitchen. She could only slightly make out the conversation at the door. She heard Rachel gasp in surprise, she heard, “You’re- you’re-” and she heard, “Yes, I am.” The rest was impossible to make out as the oven beeped, telling her that the second batch of cupcakes was done. She opened the oven and pulled out the hot pan, forgetting to put on oven mitts. This of course, didn’t affect her as much it affected the looks on Rachel, and the visitor’s faces as she handled the pan that was over three-hundred degrees fahrenheit. She set it on the cooling rack before turning to the two shocked people a few feet away. They continued to look at her for a moment before Rachel snapped out of her trance-like state.   
“Cameron, this is Tony Stark, he wants to talk to you.” 

2607 words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay it's finally happening
> 
> \--   
> daisy


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the reader learns new information about the main character and the author gets frustrated at themself for having such a hard time writing these stupid summaries

chapter four: changes, changes, nothing stays the same  
song: that green gentleman(things have changed for me) -- panic! at the disco

“Cameron, this is Tony Stark, he wants to talk to you.” The words echoed in Cameron’s ear. She couldn’t understand why the Tony Stark wanted to speak with her, she wasn’t anything special. “Why don’t the two of you head into the living room and I’ll finish up the baking.” Rachel said with a smile on her face. She was just as confused as Cameron. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.” Tony Stark smiled at the confused woman. Cameron wiped her hands on the dish towel before leading the man into the living room. She sat down on the couch and he sat on the chair across from her. She waited for him to speak.   
“Tony Stark.” He extended his hand.  
“Cameron E. Granger.” She shook it firmly.   
“I heard from a friend that you have some special abilities.”  
Cameron looked at him before responding. “I have no idea where you got that idea from.” She said matter of factly.   
“Really? Because Peter Parker told me differently.” Tony Stark responded. Cameron was slightly taken aback by this, she didn’t know that Peter knew Tony Stark, and she hadn’t expected him to tell on her to anyone. Stark pulled out a tablet. “Ability to control fire and heat, as well as super strength, and something Peter could only describe as ‘flames in her eyes’. Must I go on?”   
Cameron stayed silent.  
“Beat up one guy, gave another a third-degree burn with only one touch, and that’s just in the past two days.” He looked at the girl. “And apparently, the explanation that you gave to the guy you burned was enough to make Peter think you endured some kind of childhood trauma.”   
She still didn’t speak.  
“That, or you’re a pyromaniac.”  
Cameron finally spoke up, “What if it’s both?”   
“Well, that’s pretty messed up.” He paused. “And you just pulled that shit with pulling the hot pan out of the oven with your bare hands, you’re getting sloppy.” He looked at the girl, she didn’t seem nervous at being found out. He continued, “What I want to know is how the hell you got out of it. How the hell did you get the school to believe whatever you came up with?”   
“It’s all in the sincerity of what you’re saying.” She smiled at the billionaire.   
“And what were you so sincere about?”   
“I stabbed him with the fork I accidentally put in the microwave with my food. It was really hot and burned him. Of course, I have burns on my hands from a house fire and so I don’t feel a lot because my nerve endings were destroyed.”   
“Ahh, so an excuse centered around fire, I should have guessed, Miss Pyro.”   
“Of course, how else was I going to explain how I didn’t die of the heat?”   
“I don’t know, you were wearing a glove?”   
“On one hand, at lunch, inside? That doesn’t sound reasonable at all.”   
“True.”   
They sat awkwardly for a moment.   
“Let’s make this simple. I’d like to bring you in, do an evaluation of your powers, you know the who process.”   
“And I assume I don’t have a say in this?”  
“You don’t, even if you say no to me, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be at your door by morning, and they aren’t as nice as I am.”   
“Fair enough. What’re gonna tell her?” Cameron asked, nodding her head toward the kitchen.   
“I don’t know yet. I’m not sure another excuse having to do with fire will work in this situation.”   
“I disagree, fire can be used in almost any situation.”  
“You really are a pyro.”  
“Indubitably.” 

They sat there for a moment, neither knowing what to say next. Rachel appeared from the kitchen. “You don’t need to tell me everything. You’re not exactly quiet.”   
A look of fear passes across her face, the first emotion that Stark had seen that was anything beyond happy or comfortable.   
“Well, go on, you have places to be!” Rachel said, pointing to the door. “Just let me know when you’ll be home. You’ve got two days of suspension and the weekend, you won’t miss anything important.” She looked at Cameron, “And you have some explaining to do when you get back.” She turned to Stark, “I trust you’ll take care of her.”   
“Of course, Mrs. Taylor.” 

Cameron grabbed her backpack from the kitchen before following the billionaire out the front door. A man was standing next to the door of the car. “This is Happy. Don’t piss him off.” Stark introduced the man to Cameron. Happy opened the door to the back row and Cameron climbed in. He then went to open the door to the driver’s seat of the car for Stark to climb into. Cameron found it odd that Stark seemed to have a chauffeur and yet Stark was the one driving the car. There was an awkward silence in the air as they drove to the Avengers Tower. Cameron only lasted five minutes before she pulled out her phone, letting a waltz pull her thoughts from all of the bad things that could possibly happen. She stared out the window, watching as the neighborhood turned into downtown New York. It took a while for them to arrive at the tower, the traffic was a problem that Stark hadn’t accounted for when he chose the route.  
The tower was just as big as Cameron remembered it to be when she’d arrived in New York. They arrived at the front doors and Stark climbed out of the car, Cameron assumed that this meant she should follow him, so she climbed out of the car as well, slinging her backpack on her shoulder as she stepped out of the car onto the bustling city sidewalk. Happy climbed out of the car and walked over to the driver’s side, driving the car away. Stark led her through the front entrance and over to the private elevator on the left of the building. The doors closed and a robotic voice startled Cameron. “Good afternoon, Mr. Stark.” Stark clearly saw the slight surprise on Cameron’s face. “Thank you, Friday, could you please take us up to the lab?”  
“Of course, Mr. Stark.” The A.I. replied and the elevator began moving upward. Stark turned to the girl. “That’s Friday, my A.I. she’ll help you with whatever you need while you’re here.”   
“Cool.” The girl nodded. 

It didn’t take long for them to arrive on the correct floor. The doors opened and Stark led her over to a stool in the middle of the lab. It was as though he’d been waiting for her arrival. Another man was there, she didn’t recognize him. “Hello, Bruce, she’s ready for whatever you’re going to throw at her.” The man named Bruce led Cameron over to the stool. She dropped her backpack next to it. “I hope you’re not afraid of needles,” Stark said. The man named Bruce came over to her with a syringe. “I’m going to draw some blood.” He said quietly before beginning the process. Cameron watched the syringe filled with her blood. She’d always found blood to be a peculiar substance. “So, you control fire right?” Bruce asked, somewhat nervously.   
“Something like that,” Cameron responded.   
“She’s a pyro,” Stark called from across the lab.  
“Yes, yes I am.” Cameron smiled at the man who seemed even more nervous than before.  
He finished drawing her blood and moved onto some other things.

After the tests finished, Cameron didn’t know what to do with herself. She watched as Bruce ran everything through the computer. Stark hadn’t made any implication that they were going to leave. She sat awkwardly on the stool and waited. This went on for a few minutes before Stark decided that they could leave. He led her back to the elevator and they went up a few more floors. They entered another floor that looked nothing like the one she’d been on before. This one seemed to hold cells and interrogation rooms. She wondered if they were going to lock her up like she was some kind of bad guy. She knew that even if they didn’t know it, they probably should, mostly for their safety. Cameron could handle the consequences of the anger, but others often couldn’t. 

He led her into one of the interrogation rooms. “We just have some questions for you.” He said to the young girl before disappearing from the room. A few minutes later, a red-head entered the room. “So you’re the one they sent to interrogate me.” The woman looked at her for a moment. “I’m not stupid. I know this isn’t exactly friendly. You want to know who I am, how I work, what makes me tick. I assume that you’re good with emotions and profiling.”   
“In fact, I am. Natasha.” She extended her hand. Cameron took it, “Cameron E. Granger.”   
“What does the ‘E’ stand for?” Natasha asked, it wasn’t often that someone introduced themselves with their middle initial. “Emerald.”   
“That’s an odd middle name.”   
“It is indeed. But that’s what you’d expect from the great Mary Granger.” Cameron stated.   
“I assume that’s your mother.”   
“You assume correctly.”   
“Tell me about your mother.”   
“Mary K. Granger was born on July 27, 1982, in a small town in Georgia. She grew up with a mother and a father and a younger sister. She went to college in Georgia, and there she met my father, a scumbag who didn’t really care about her. Now, which scumbag, I don’t really know, there were many. She had her daughter on April 19, 2004, and named her Cameron Emerald Granger. Cameron, because she had liked the name, and Emerald because she’d always thought emeralds to be disappointing, and from the moment I was born, I was a disappointment.”  
She could feel the fire behind her eyes.   
“So your mother didn’t like you?”   
“Nope, never in her ten years of knowing me did she ever say the words, ‘I love you, Cameron E. Granger.’”  
“Ten years? You’re older than that aren’t you?”   
“She died in a fire when I was ten.”   
Cameron could almost hear Stark smirking from behind the one-way glass. He was set on her being a pyromaniac.  
“A fire? Aren’t your powers related to fire?”   
“Are you implying that I killed my mother?”   
“I didn’t say anything.”   
“I find it’s not always about what you say, but rather about what you don’t.”   
“Why don’t you tell me about your powers.”   
“What do you want to know?”   
“How’d you get them?”   
“I dunno.”   
“What all can you do?”   
“What is it that you really want to know, Natasha.” Cameron looked deep into the redhead's eyes.  
“You’re asking all these questions, and yet you won’t ask the one you really want to know the answer to.”   
“Can you control your powers?”   
“Closer, but you’re still not asking what you really wanna know.”  
“What’s the extent of them?”   
“Still not there.”   
Natasha looked at the girl sitting across from her. She thought for a moment before asking another question.   
“Are you dangerous?”   
“There you go. That’s the question you really wanted the answer to.” She stared at the wall for a moment.  
“Yes and no.” She finally decided on.   
“What does that mean?”   
“Well, yes, of course, I’m dangerous, I’m just a kid with superpowers, that almost never ends well. But I’ve got pretty good control over my powers.” She pushed a lot of sincerity into the last part. She had control over her powers when the anger wasn’t there. She didn’t need these people to know about that yet.   
“Is there anything else you need from me?” Cameron asked sincerely.   
Nat looked through the one-way glass. There seemed to be no indication that she was to ask more questions, though Cameron wasn’t sure how Natasha could tell, it being one-way glass and all. “Nah, I don’t think so. Tony’ll be back here to get you in a minute.” Natasha got up and left the room. Cameron was left in the silver and grey room alone.  
She looked at the one way glass with a peculiar look on her face. She had always found this glass to be interesting, she only saw a reflection of herself. Her orange hair was a little out of place, strands of it sticking up in random places. Her eyes looked tired, no fire, only the soft auburn glow. There were bags under her eyes, she hadn’t slept well the night before and it showed. She could only see the tops of her clothing but it looked slightly out of place in comparison to the world she had just been welcomed into. She was wearing a jean jacket, one of the few jackets that she circled through. She generally looked like she’d made some attempt at looking put-together but fallen short. To Cameron, that was good enough. 

It seemed like an eternity before someone arrived to take her to wherever they were going next. She’d expected Tony but instead was met by the nervous scientist that she’d met earlier. “I’m here to take you back to the lab.” He said, some of the nervousness gone from his voice. She got up from the metal chair and followed him out the door, onto the elevator, and to the lab. Tony sat in one corner of the space working on something that Cameron couldn’t quite make out. “Ahh, Pyro is back.” He says, barely looking up from his work. Cameron huffed a little at the nickname. An alarm went off from the speakers hidden somewhere in the room. Tony checked the time.   
“Peter’s here!” Tony’s face lifted a little.  
Cameron watched the man with interest. She wondered what his connection with the boy was. It was peculiar, the whole thing. She was interested in how the boy would react upon seeing her again. She wasn’t exactly sure what he thought of her. Although she’d spent quite a lot of time studying the human thought-process, she still couldn’t understand everything. 

It didn’t take long for Peter to arrive in the lab. His eyes were glowing with excitement as he made his way over to Tony, giving him a hug. He looked over at Cameron, she couldn’t quite decipher the look on his face. Peter dropped his backpack by one of the tables.   
“Peter, why don’t you show Cameron around the tower?”   
Peter shrugged, “Sure, why not.”   
This time, Cameron could read the look on his face clearly. She knew that he did not want to take her on a tour and she only assumed that it was because he’d rather spend time in the lab. But she followed him anyway. She followed the peculiar boy out of the lab and into the unknown. 

2461 words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh the end of this chapter is awful but i didn't know how to end it so this is what i got
> 
> \--  
> daisy


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cameron's stint with the Avengers continues much like the author's trouble to figure out what to write here.

chapter five: some shit is revealed  
song: the end of all things -- panic! at the disco

 

Peter Parker did not want to take Cameron for a tour. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to spend time with her, he was still very interested in the girl, but he had absolutely no desire to spend any of his precious lab time showing her the tower. But Tony had asked him to do it, so there he was, showing the peculiar girl around. They’d left the lab and were in the elevator now. He’d decided that he’d only show her some of the labs and the Avengers floors. The elevator doors opened to reveal the highest level of labs. He took her through them quickly, waving at some of the scientists as they went. They climbed into the elevator and it took them up to Tony’s floor. He showed her the rooms and the kitchen, and then he took her up to the Avenger’s floor. This was the one he was most excited to show her. They started in the common room,  
“This is where everyone just hangs out, usually there’s someone on the couch watching TV or playing video games at some point or another.” He turned to the left. “And over there is where all of the Avengers sleep and down that hall is the training room.” He pointed out as much as he could as quickly as he could. He felt satisfied with the tour and returned her to the lab. Just as the elevator doors opened, his phone buzzed.

Ned: Hey  
Peter: Hey  
Ned: Whatcha doing?  
Peter: At the tower  
Ned: is freaky fire girl there  
Peter: yup  
Ned: have you learned anything more about her?  
Peter: Nah, as soon as I got here, Tony sent me to give her a tour so I haven’t been able to look at the test results  
Ned: Oof, well let me know when you read them  
Ned: I wanna know more about mystery girl  
Peter: K I will  
Peter: I gtg  
Ned: K bye

Peter closed his phone and brought his awareness back to the lab. Tony and Bruce were arguing about something. He walked over to the two, Cameron followed close behind him.  
“There’s no way!” Tony cried.  
“It says it right there!” Bruce responded, pointing at the tablet.  
“I refuse to believe that she’s-” He stopped, noticing the two teens that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. “Ahh, hey, how was the tour?”  
“It was fine.” Was all Peter mumbled before heading over to his lab table, leaving Cameron to stand by the men, unsure of what to do. Bruce quickly set down the tablet. It was frantic and as if he wanted to hide something. Cameron looked him, head tilted to the left, confusion on her face. They’d stopped so abruptly that it couldn’t have been a coincidence. But she resigned, she still hadn’t gotten these people to trust her, and there was no reason for her to risk that. They hadn’t assessed her yet, and when they did, she didn’t want them to think of her as anything bad. There was too much of a risk of her anger bursting out again, and she didn’t want them to think too badly of her. 

There was a part of her that wished that she hadn’t intervened the day before. If she hadn’t helped Peter, she wouldn’t be here right now. She’d be at school instead. She wouldn’t’ve gotten into anything with the other boys today, she would’ve been able to keep in the shadows, and maybe, just maybe, she’d’ve been able to control her anger and stay to herself, risking nothing compared to what she was risking by being here. There was nothing she could do if it happened again. There was nothing she could do if she were to spiral again. 

Tony and Bruce didn’t know what to do with the teen standing in front of them. They couldn’t exactly just let her go home, they hadn’t learned enough about her, and what they had learned was not something they could take lightly. Tony had an idea. He pulled up a seat for her to sit in front of them. She sat down quietly, crossing her legs.  
“So, you told Natasha about your mother, you didn’t say much about your father.”  
Cameron smirked.  
“What?”  
“I should’ve known that you’d be listening.”  
“Well?”  
“I don’t know much, that’s the thing.”  
“What do you know?”  
“My mother had sex with a lot of guys in college. She didn’t even know the names of half of them. How am I supposed to know anything about him if I don’t even know who he is?”  
“Fair enough.”  
“The only thing I do know is that he probably doesn’t even know that I exist.”  
“That sucks,” Bruce said quietly.  
“Yeah, it really does.”  
Bruce seemed to really care about how she was feeling. She didn’t know why but she thought she recognized him from somewhere. She had no idea why he was an Avenger but he was here so he could only assume that he was. Tony, however, was not so kind.  
“And how did you get your powers?”  
“I dunno, they kinda just developed them when I was younger.” Cameron shrugged. It was true, that was what happened, well most of it anyway.  
“Uh-huh.” Tony nodded, a look of confusion and understanding lay across his face. To him, the whole thing was actually starting to make sense. Maybe it wasn’t so far off that she was who the tests said she was. 

Cameron was confused. She thought that the questioning had been over when she left the interrogation room. Yet, here she was, berated with questions for the second time in the last few hours.  
“Are you done berating me with questions?”  
“For now.” Tony looked at the girl again.  
“When can I go home?” Cameron asked.  
“Home? When I checked your file, it said that you’ve only been in that foster home for a matter of days.”  
“It’s the best one I’ve been in,” Cameron said. “And they’re pretty nice as far as foster homes go.”  
“Nice enough for you to call it home?”  
Tony paused.  
“You see, I read your file, you’ve been in over fifteen foster homes over the past three and a half years. That’s doesn’t exactly give me the impression that you’d call anywhere home.”  
“If you’ve read my file, you’d know that over eighty percent of those homes were not permanent because the families hated me.”  
“They have to hate you for a reason. I can only assume that you caused at least a bit of trouble.”  
“Maybe,” She smirked. “Or maybe I’m just not easily liked.”  
“I’m gonna go with the first one.” 

The thing was, Tony had a point. Cameron hadn’t felt at home in any of the places she’d been. Well, all except for one. Her second home. It had simply been a woman. Her name was Ava Perez and she was one of the best things to ever happen to Cameron. It was Cameron’s fault that she died.  
“Fine by me. Maybe I can successfully hide my true feelings behind a bad-girl persona.”  
“Ha-ha,” Tony said, wondering if the girl was being sarcastic or if there was some truth to that statement. He’d questioned her enough for now. He was interested in this girl. If what had been revealed was, in fact, true, there were a lot of precautions that he wanted to take, and there were a lot of possibilities that things would go awry. He decided that Cameron should stay at the tower that night, for observation, of course. Mrs. Taylor had said it was fine. He made a mental note to call her and let her know. He knew she was just as anxious as him to learn the truth about Cameron E. Granger.  
“You’re gonna stay the night and you can go home tomorrow.” He finally answered her question from earlier.  
“Sounds good to me. It’s not like I have anywhere to be.” She said. It was kind of a joke but if you had asked her, she probably would’ve shown some emotion about the fact that she got suspended. She prided herself on being a good student, and now, she’d been suspended. There was nothing she could do about it. She’d stood up for herself and she had to pay the price. It was probably better than what would’ve happened if she’d let those idiot boys beat her up. She’d’ve either gotten hurt or worse, the anger would’ve taken control. Suspension couldn’t be that awful, could it? She was at the Avenger’s tower, after all, that was good right? 

She was led up to the living room where a few other people resided at the moment. Her phone buzzed and so she pulled it out, plopping on the couch as she went. She’d gotten a message from Rachel. 

Rachel: What’s the plan for tonight?

Cameron was slightly confused at why Rachel was asking about the night, it was only the afternoon. She checked the time. Much to her surprise, it was not in fact afternoon, but rather early evening. She couldn’t believe how much time had passed since she’d arrived at the tower.

Cameron: i’m gonna stay over tonight and tony said i can go home tomorrow  
Rachel: Okay. Do you need anything? I’m going to take the day off tomorrow so that you’re not home alone.  
Cameron: you really don’t have to do that  
Rachel: It’s fine, I’ve wanted to take the day off for a while and this is just the excuse I needed.  
Cameron: are you sure?  
Rachel: Yes, I’m sure. You never answered my question. Do you need anything?  
Cameron: nah, i don’t need anything right now, thanks though.  
Rachel: You’re welcome. Call me if you do. Otherwise, have fun! You’re hanging out with the Avengers!  
Cameron: i wouldn’t exactly call it hanging out  
Cameron: it’s more like an interrogation  
Rachel: They’re not hurting you, are they?  
Cameron: nah, they aren’t. just a lot of questions  
Rachel: Well, the day’s winding down so they’ll have to stop soon.  
Cameron: yeah.  
Rachel: Have a good night.  
Cameron: you too.

Cameron stared at the phone screen for a moment.

Cameron: and thanks  
Cameron: for everything  
Rachel: You don’t need to thank me.

And yet, she felt like she did. This woman had taken her into her home and was continually accepting her. Even after a fight and a suspension. Even after finding out that Cameron has inhuman-like powers, she was still there for the girl. That was something that Cameron hadn’t experienced much of before. It was something she cherished and hoped that she’d never have to let go of. 

Dinner came quicker than Cameron wanted it to. She hated eating with other people around, simply because she didn’t really eat. People always came to their own conclusions, assuming that her troubled past led to anorexia or some other eating disorder. Cameron sometimes wondered if that’s what it was if it wasn’t just that she didn’t like eating as much as she didn’t like eating. They were ordering pizza for dinner. Considering the sheer amount of Avengers, Cameron knew that there would be a lot of pizza, and she hoped at least some of it didn’t have meat. Tony had asked her what kind of pizza she liked, she’d simply said cheese.  
Now, she sat with the slice in front of her. She wanted so desperately to cut it in half. The piece felt so big and intimidating on her plate. Seeing only half of it would make it so much easier to eat. She sat at the table, staring at the pile of grease, cheese, tomato sauce, and bread that was in front of her. She couldn’t do it. She got up from the table and searched for a knife. There was so much commotion that no one really noticed the girl, no one except Peter Parker. He’d emerged from the lab in order to eat. He watched as Cameron looked helplessly around the kitchen. He decided that he might as well help her. He slid out of his seat and made his way over to the kitchen.  
“What’re you looking for?” He asked quietly.  
Cameron was startled. She jumped back a little before realizing that it was just Peter. She held the plate in her hand.  
“Just a knife.” She blurted out.  
“Oh, they’re over in this drawer.” Peter pointed to a drawer in the corner of the kitchen, making big strides towards it. He opened it and pulled out a butter knife before handing it to the small girl.  
“Thanks.” She gave him a small smile. She immediately went to work, slicing the pizza in half. It took her a while, seeing as it was just a butter knife. When she finally finished cutting the piece, she placed the butter knife in the sink, unsure of whether or not to put it in the dishwasher. She lifted one half from her plate and returned it into the box before returning to the table, much more comfortable with the amount on her plate. 

Peter watched the girl in interest. He wondered why the girl only wanted half of the food given to her, it was a small piece, to begin with. He wondered if there was something wrong with her. He was a high school student, he’d seen many people struggle with eating. He went back to his seat, deciding that he must keep an eye on her, eating was another thing he could add to the list of mysteries. 

Cameron successfully finished her half-piece before placing her plate in the sink. She started to think that she could get through all of this, she’d gotten through eating in front of these people, maybe she could get through the rest of it too. She returned to her seat and watched as the Avengers finished their meal. A few minutes later, a thunderstorm began outside. It was odd, Cameron had checked the weather this morning, the skies were supposed to be clear. The weather wasn’t always right so she let it pass. It only took a few seconds for Friday to alert them that someone had arrived.  
“Ah, Thor must be here.” She heard someone say. She’d heard about the god when New York had been saved, though she didn’t know much. It was only a few more moments before the large man appeared in the common area.  
“I have come to visit from Asgard.” He said, voice booming.  
“Thor! Good to see you!” Someone that Cameron didn’t recognize cried.  
“Yes, and it is good to see all of you as well.” Thor’s voice boomed.  
Thor pulled up a chair and sat down at the table, pulling an entire box of pizza in front of him. 

Cameron watched as the Avengers interacted. It was odd to her, how the world’s greatest heroes were so casual. It was another few minutes before they really remembered her existence. Well, one of them did. Steve Rogers saw the girl.  
“Who’re you?” He asked politely.  
“Cameron E. Granger.” She said quickly. She’d met enough new people today, and yet here she was, still meeting more people.  
“Are you the one with fire powers?” Another man asked.  
“Clint-” Steve was interrupted.  
“What? I’m just asking!”  
Steve sighed.  
Thor finally looked up from his entire pizza. He saw the girl and almost immediately recognized her. “You look like-”

2573 words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooooooh a cliff hanger
> 
> \--  
> daisy


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which more information is revealed about cameron and the author still hates these things

“You look like-”   
Tony cut him off before he could finish.   
“Thor, how’s Asgard?”   
Thor was taken aback by Tony interrupting him so quickly. Cameron was also quite confused.   
“Well, it’s fine.” Thor glanced at the girl again before continuing, “My brother has been released from his prison though he’s still closely watched.”  
The Avengers stopped. Loki had been released?  
“Why the hell would you think it would be a good idea to release Loki, you know, the guy who tried to rule Earth?”   
“It wasn’t my idea. It was my father’s. They’re going to Jotunheim in a few days time for reasons I do not know.”   
“I cannot believe your father would release him!” Someone cried. 

Cameron had once again become invisible to the group. She sat there and watched the mayhem that was unfolding in front of her. She’d seen the news coverage on the battle of New York, she knew what Loki had done. Yet, she couldn’t quite understand how he could be so awful. Maybe he had just been controlled by his anger like she often was. Or worse, fear. She’d found that those two emotions could drive people to do horrible things. But she didn’t say anything. Her unpopular opinion was best kept quiet. 

Dinner finished soon after. The conversation had turned from Loki’s release to Steve’s love life pretty quickly and Cameron had stayed invisible. It was only after the food was cleared and the Avengers separated that she was noticed again. Tony took her up a spiral staircase and showed her to a bedroom. It was dark outside and he figured the teen had had enough crazy for one day. They arrived at a closed door. Tony turned the knob and opened the door slowly, allowing Cameron to step in first. Her backpack had somehow appeared on the bed along with a pair of folded pajamas.   
“Here’s where you’ll stay tonight,” Tony said as he stepped through the doorway. “If you need anything, just ask Friday, if she can’t help she’ll alert me.”   
“Thanks,” Cameron said.   
“Is there anything else you need before I leave?”  
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks, though.”   
“It’s nothing,” Tony replied before leaving the room, closing the door behind him. 

Cameron sat down on the edge of the bed. She couldn’t believe what had happened that day. It was all too much for her to process. She did a quick scan of the room. She figured there’d be cameras, she knew they didn’t trust her. It only took a few seconds for her to find two, one hidden one and one not-so-hidden camera. That was fine, she could deal with it. She figured someone was already watching her. She picked up the pajamas and walked towards the bathroom that was across from the bed. The fluorescent light hurt her eyes. 

Cameron decided that she’d take a shower. She always showered at night, and when she didn’t, she felt unclean. She turned on the water and adjusted the temperature to her liking. That just happened to be extremely hot. She’d always found higher temperatures to be much more comfortable. She stepped into the shower and let the heated water envelop her. She felt as though her troubles and stress were washing away with the water down the drain.  
You’d think that her powers would make her hate water, it being the opposite the opposite of fire, but it was quite the opposite. Cameron absolutely loved water. She loved making it sizzle across hot skin. She found it soothing. Quite frankly, she wouldn’t have gotten through the beginning of her powers without it. When they’d first appeared, she’d found herself in obscene amounts of pain, most from her body adjusting to the heat, but all the same, she’d used buckets of water to soothe her burning skin. 

She didn’t stay in the water for too long, she didn’t want to risk using a large amount of the tower’s hot water. After she’d dried off and slid into the pajamas that had been   
provided for her, she returned to the bed. Cameron sat with her legs crossed in the center of the king-sized bed and began to open her backpack. She pulled out the old laptop she’d found in a dumpster one day and fixed up. It hardly worked, but it worked enough that she could use it somewhat successfully. She put in the password and opened a new web page. She quickly pulled up her Google Drive and opened the first folder. She then opened a document that she’d been working on the day before. She’d written a few pages so far. Cameron started where she left off, continuing on whatever was on the document in front of her. 

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Tony Stark had started watching the girl as soon as he’d left the room. Now he sat in the lab, watching the feed. The girl had disappeared into the bathroom for quite some time and now she was sitting on the bed, wet hair covering her face. He watched her pull out an old computer. From the looks of it, Tony was surprised it even worked. He made a mental note to offer her a new computer. He watched as she began to type. He was so focused on Cameron that he didn’t even notice Peter sneaking into the lab.

Ever since dinner, Peter had become more and more curious about the girl. He wanted to see the test results. He wanted to know everything there was to know about Cameron E. Granger. He successfully made it to the tablet that was the easiest access point to the information. He bypassed the security and pulled up the results. The first part focused on her abilities. Hardly anything was written, seeing as however, she got her powers was not through her bloodstream or anything having to do with the make-up of her body. The only information that he found was simply what she’d said to various people throughout her short time at the tower. He read most of the results before finding what Tony was trying so hard to keep from her. Just as he read it, Tony caught him.   
“What’re you doing?”   
“N-nothing!” Peter cried, dropping the tablet onto the table.   
“Do you wanna try again?”  
“N-no.”   
“Peter, I know you’re lying.”  
“I just wanted to see what information you have about Cameron!”  
“You’re not authorized to see that!”  
“I was just curious!”   
“Peter! You have to respect the boundaries.”  
“I know, I just-”  
“What did you see?”  
“Not much, just her the stuff about her powers.”  
“Anything else?” Tony asked, suspiscion dripping from his voice.   
“I also saw the part about her DNA and who her-”  
“You can’t tell her!”  
“I know. I promise I won’t!”  
“You better not! You should go home soon, I don’t want May missing you.”   
“She’s got the night shift tonight, she said I can stay over.”   
“Fine, just go to bed soon. I don’t want you up too late.”   
“You’re starting to sound like a parent.”   
“That’s not a bad thing.”   
“That depends on your perspective.”   
“Just go do your work.”   
“I will.” Peter smiled at the old man before going over to his lab table to finish his homework. Truth be told, he secretly liked when Tony acted like a father to him. He began to do his work but had trouble focusing. He couldn’t believe who Cameron really was. Peter didn’t know how he was going to keep such a big thing secret from the younger girl. He eventually gave up on his homework and went to bed, he could do it during his free period in the morning. 

Tony did not go to bed, however. He continued to watch the girl. She moved from her computer to her math homework. After the homework, she pulled a book out of her bag and began to read. It was getting later and he figured she’d go to bed soon, but she didn’t. He kept telling himself that she would, but the further it got into the night, the less he believed it. 

It was one in the morning before Tony decided that she wasn’t going to go to bed, right after he’d finished his third cup of coffee. It was two in the morning when she actually fell asleep. She’d started watching TV and that was her demise. She’d fallen asleep watching some random movie. It was just luck that Tony still hadn’t fallen asleep at that point, though the caffeine of the fourth and fifth cups of coffee may have helped. Now, he was too awake to go to sleep. He decided he might as well work on some projects but he kept the feed of the guest room open, just in case.   
It took another hour and a half before he thought of her again. He had been working on the math for a new suit when he heard a noise. A few moments later, he heard it again, then again. He searched around the lab, trying to find the source before realizing it was coming from the monitor. It looked as though Cameron was having a nightmare. He rushed out of the lab and up to Cameron’s room.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Cameron had struggled with nightmares for most of her life. They hadn’t always been about events that had happened in her life, in fact, even now, a lot of the nightmares were purely fictional. Most of the time, they were about a man with long black hair. Sometimes he was killing people, sometimes he was in prison, sometimes he was dying. She never knew what it was going to be. It often felt as though she knew this man, whoever he was. Tonight, she dreamt of him on a trip to another world, she could feel his anguish as he had to face parts of himself he wished never existed. It was that anguish that caused the disturbance from her usual fetal position. 

Tony arrived in the room just as Cameron’s noise changed to shaking. She was muttering something that Tony couldn’t understand. He didn’t know exactly what to do. He decided the best thing he could do was to wake her up. He leaned over and shook her awake.   
“Cameron? Cameron! Wake up!” He whisper-yelled. It took a little bit for her to wake up, but she did. She shot up.   
“Woah, hey, you’re okay.” Tony said, doing his best to keep her calm.

It took Cameron longer than usual to realize she was safe. Usually, she could do it pretty quickly, but for some reason, tonight, she stayed afraid for far too long. When she finally calmed down enough to speak to Tony, she immediately wanted to know why he was here.  
“I heard you were having a nightmare.” He explained before she could even ask. Cameron sighed and looked at the clock. It was almost four in the morning now and she knew she wasn’t going back to sleep. There was a reason she always stayed up late, and a reason why she avoided sleep.   
“Do you mind if I ask what it was about?”  
Cameron rubbed her eyes.  
“It was about the same guy as always.” She sighed.  
“Guy?” Tony questioned, he had assumed that the nightmare had been about some event in her past.   
“Yeah, long black hair. Same guy.”   
Tony was surprised by this.   
“My nightmares are complete fiction, they just always star a guy with long black hair and some sort of magic.”   
It had only taken Tony seconds to realize who it was her dreams were about.   
“Well, what happened in your dream tonight?”   
“He and this other guy went to another place, maybe another planet or something, and they were trying to talk to whoever was in charge of it. Whoever the man is was struggling with some part of his identity and how it related to wherever they were. Things got violent and then I woke up.”   
“Are you okay?”   
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I probably just won’t go back to sleep tonight.”  
“Aw, I’m sorry.”  
“It’s fine. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”  
“Just because you’ve dealt with it before doesn’t mean you should have to deal with it now.”   
“It’s nothing. There’s only like two and a half more hours before it’s a reasonable time to get up.”  
“Well, if you aren’t going to sleep, what do you wanna do?”   
“I don’t know. Do you have a punching bag lying around that I can use?”  
“Of course we do, this is where the Avengers live!” Tony laughed a little. “I’ll show you where the training room is.”   
Cameron followed the man down a few floors. He showed her into the room before exiting.   
“I’m gonna go to bed now. You good?”   
“Yeah, I’m good.”   
“Good night.”   
“Good night,” Cameron replied.

Tony left to room to go climb into bed with Pepper, expecting a lecture about good sleeping habits. Cameron found her way over to a punching bag. She didn’t bother wrapping her fists. She sent her first punch into the bag. Then her second, then her third. Soon, she wasn’t just hitting it, she was forcing her emotions into it. All of her anxiety and her stress and her anger, all of it. It felt good. She stayed there for a long time, not realizing how much time passed. 

Cameron only noticed the time again when Natasha Romanoff showed up, right as the sun was starting to rise. Something about early morning training. The assassin watched the younger girl for a while. Her form was pretty good. She began to wonder what else the girl could do. “Wanna spar?” Natasha asked. Cameron finally snapped out of her apparent trance.   
“Sure, but I’m not very good.”   
“That’s fine. I’ll go easy.”   
“You’ll have to go very easy. The only training I have in fighting is from the year of self-defense classes I took.”  
“That’s enough to have some basics.”   
“Yup. I’m a little rusty though.”  
“Come on.”   
Natasha led the girl over to some mats in the corner. Cameron readied herself for something big, only to find that Natasha really was going easy on her. In fact, she made it a whole twenty seconds before the assassin claimed victory. They went again, this time a little more friendly.  
“You’re not too bad for only a year of self-defense classes.”  
“Thanks.”  
“I could teach some more if you’d like.” Natasha said, launching a hit towards the girl. Cameron dodged before responding, “That’d be wonderful.” 

They went a few more rounds before Natasha recognized she’d worn the girl out. She’d taught Cameron a few new techniques and was feeling quite proud of her newest student.   
“You wanna shoot a few targets with me?” She asked, genuinely curious of the teen’s experience.  
“Yeah, sure,” Cameron said, still catching her breath. The sun had completely risen and the day had officially started. Natasha led her over to the target-practice area.   
“Have you ever handled a gun before?”   
“Yeah, a few times,” Cameron responded. Natasha loaded a handgun and handed it to the girl before doing the same for herself.   
“Then I’m sure you know basic safety.”   
“Of course I do.”   
“Then go at it.”   
“You first.”   
Cameron watched as Natasha emptied the mag into the center of the target.   
“Well, I’m definetly not that good with aim, but I’ll try.” Cameron laughed a little.   
She pulled the trigger and hit the target dead-on. Beginners luck.  
But then she hit it again.  
And then again.   
Who was this girl? 

2591 words


	7. Chapter 7

chapter seven: so many secrets, from and about her  
song: sliiping lately - cavetown

 

It was Saturday morning when Cameron finally returned home. She’d ended up staying another night, people giving her looks and Thor staring at her. She couldn’t wait to return to the place that felt a thousand times more homely than the Avenger Tower.

She arrived in a car driven by Happy. Tony and the others had been too busy to make the trek across town. She pulled her backpack out of the car behind her. She waved goodbye to Happy before opening the front door of the house. It was unlocked. She was going to have to break the Taylors’ habit of keeping the door unlocked. It wasn’t safe and they were too clueless as to what they’d gotten into when they’d agreed to take care of her. 

She walked into the living room and saw John sitting on the couch. He was watching cartoons. He heard the two adults talking in the kitchen. She dropped her backpack by the door and John finally noticed her.   
“Where were you?” He asked, his piercing eyes burned into her skull more than she thought possible.   
“Out.” She said. She didn’t care much about what he thought of her. He was just a little kid.   
“Mom says that you have secrets.”  
“Everyone has secrets.”   
“I heard Mom and Dad talking about what your secrets are. She said that you were with Tony Stark.”   
“It’s none of your beeswax.”  
“Yes, it is if you’re going to be my sister.”  
“I’m not your sister.”   
“Then what are you?”   
“An imposter.”  
“Isn’t that a bad thing?”   
“Anything is bad if you want it to be.”   
The kid sighed and returned to his cartoons. Cameron smiled, it was apparent that she had won this round. She walked into the kitchen. “Ahh, hey, how was your trip to the Avengers Tower?” Rachel asked.   
“It was fine,” Cameron said, taking a seat at the counter. Mr. Taylor looked at the girl. He was curious and slightly afraid of what had been the reason she’d been invited in the first place.   
“Is there something you’d like to tell us?” Rachel asked, trying to push the girl to explain what she hadn’t told them before.   
“I mean no...but I don’t have a choice, do I?”  
“You don’t.” She said.   
“You heard though, didn’t you?”  
“Yes, ‘it’s all in the sincerity of the lie’ and all that. What I wanna know is why you didn’t think to tell us.”   
“It hasn’t gone over too well before.”   
“Everyone’s different.”   
“Most people are the same.”   
“I disagree.”   
Cameron sighed.  
“Look, you can’t blame me for worrying about how you’d react to a fire-controlling kid in your house.”   
“You’re right, I can’t, but I can blame you for not telling us after you met us. If Tony Stark hadn’t shown up, would you have ever told us?”  
Cameron looked down at her feet.  
“Probably not.”   
“Cameron, if you’re going to live here, you have to tell us these things. We have to be able to trust you.”  
“I know,” she mumbled. “It’s just hard for me to…”  
“To what?”  
“To trust people.”   
“I assume you aren’t going to tell us why that is.”   
“Maybe another time.”   
Rachel sighed. She was trying, but she wasn’t quite sure how to get through to the kid. She thought that she’d gotten through to Cameron a few days earlier with the cupcakes but it felt almost as if she’d backtracked since then. Something must have happened at the tower. Rachel hated how careful she had to be with Cameron. She didn’t know what would set the girl off, and now, she was even more worried at what would happen if Cameron were upset. She had no idea of the girl’s power. 

Cameron got up from the barstool. All she wanted was to leave. To walk out the front door and go somewhere else. Elsewhere. 

She was five when Elsewhere first came about. Sometimes it was just her house, with a different dynamic, other times it was a whole fantastical world where she was a princess. It was forests, and mountains, and anything she wanted it to be. Elsewhere was her escape, and right now, she needed it to be anything but what was actually happening in her life. 

Her room was merely a few steps away. She turned the doorknob quietly, so as to make sure it didn’t bother anyone around her, even though everyone was downstairs. She threw the backpack she’d hastily grabbed on her way up the stairs onto the bed. She opened the top drawer of the dresser and dug through a few of the possessions that she’d thrown in there when she’d moved in two weeks ago. She was looking for something and she couldn’t find it. She searched the bottom of the drawer, left to right and then again. Left to right, left to right, left to right. It was on the fourth attempt that she found what she had been looking for. A postcard. A seagull over the ocean on the front, a note on the back. She stared at the seagull for a moment. She had always found those creatures so peculiar. Cameron flipped the postcard over. She slid her fingers across the address on it. It was written in bright pink ink, from the pen that she always used. The note was written in the same ink, a smear in the bottom where it had gotten a little wet, Cameron had searched the internet to find there’d been a storm in New Jersey around the time the postcard had been sent. The writing was small, and yet, somehow Ava had covered the entire area, even extra. She read the words that had been written somewhat hurriedly. A final reminder that it wasn’t her fault. But it was. Ava had been the only person who’d cared for Cameron, and in return, Cameron had destroyed her life. 

She replaced the postcard in her drawer. She’d been reminded of the past enough for one day. It was hardly lunch time and she had no idea what to do with the rest of her day. She’d promised Stark that she’d return the following weekend, but there was plenty of time before then. There was nothing planned except school, something she wondered if she should skip. Cameron was tired but sleep would not help her. It would only bring more unsettling feelings. She traipsed over to her bed and put in her earbuds. She leaned against the headboard and closed her eyes.   
She’d been thinking about the man in her dreams a lot lately. Stark had seemed surprised when she’d mentioned him as if he knew who she was talking about. It was odd how familiar he seemed. It was as if she had some sort of attachment to the man, and yet she could hardly figure out what was happening to him. Only that he feels a lot of pain and anxiety. When she’d visited a therapist a few years ago (Social Services made her), the therapist had suggested that the man was just a representation of all her bad feelings but Cameron had never believed that. It felt too real, all of the experiences that she saw in a sleeping state. She often wished that she could know the man’s name at least. She could never understand what was said in the dreams, it was a muffled and undecipherable.   
It was a few hours later when she removed the earbuds. She hadn’t realized, but she’d fallen asleep. Mr. Taylor had come to get her for lunch, finding the girl sleeping against the back of the bed. He smiled a little. It was interesting to see her so peaceful, to him, it always seemed as though there was always some internal battle going on behind her eyes. Now, she just looked small and content. He almost didn’t want to wake her, and yet, he did. He shook her awake ever so slightly. 

“Hey, Cameron, it’s time for lunch.” He whispered. She clearly wasn’t too deep in sleep because she was up in seconds. She blinked awake, still not fully conscious.   
“Oh…okay. I’ll be down in a second.” She said with an air of tiredness in her tone. He smiled at her and left the room, heading back downstairs. In her state of sleep, she’d seen the man again. This time, it wasn’t necessarily bad. He had been given some news by a blonde man that she recognized, but couldn’t quite make out from where. The man was in a slight state of shock, she was unsure if it was a good or bad shock, this one was blurrier than usual.

He’d been in what she assumed was a library at the beginning. The blonde man had stormed into the room and the man had looked up from whatever he had been reading. The blonde man delivered the news and that was when the surprise became apparent. The man had gotten up, dropping his book as he went, and rushed out of the room, but the blonde man had stopped him, telling him something. That was when Cameron had woken up. She’d gotten used to not knowing who the man in her dreams was but recognizing the blonde guy brought her right back to square one. 

She didn’t have much time to dwell on the contents of her dream before lunch. She clomped down the stairs and into the kitchen. The dining table was set with a plate of sandwiches, a closer look implied they were grilled cheeses. Of course, they were. Everything about this family was perfect, they even made grilled cheeses for lunch. Everyone sat down at the table. It was awkward. John was glaring at Cameron, Rachel was giving Mr. Taylor a look, and Mr. Taylor was consuming his grilled cheese at record speed. Cameron didn’t quite know what to do. She ate half of a grilled cheese slowly. It felt as though they were all watching her, even though it was really only John that was intentionally watching her. She didn’t know what to do about the kid. There was no way that he was ever going to like her. She finished lunch and returned to her room, waiting for the weekend to end. She had no idea what she was going to do for the next day and a half. 

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

It had been a few hours since the Avengers had been relieved of Cameron’s presence. They’d all gone their separate ways, some were training, other relaxing, but Tony and Thor were left sitting in the living room. After Thor had almost revealed something about Cameron at dinner, Tony thought it was best to tell the man that Cameron was not to know of the situation.   
“She’s not going to know he’s her father,” Tony said firmly.   
“I understand that Stark, but why?” The god asked.   
“Her father is a dangerous man, there’s no good way that telling her would end well.”   
“So I’m just supposed to not tell my niece that she’s my niece?”  
“Yeah, something like that.”  
“You know Stark, if she were to ever find out, that would not end well either.”  
“That’s why she’s never going to find out. Got it?”   
“Understood.”   
“Good, she’ll be back next weekend, so you’ve got the whole week to figure out how you’re not going to tell her if that’s what you’re worried about.”   
Thor got up from his spot on the couch.   
“I must return to Asgard, I’m sure that I’ll be back next weekend.”   
Tony nodded and made his way over to the kitchen. He was in desperate need of caffeine. Thor left the building and called for Heimdall to bring him home. He arrived on Asgard in a matter of seconds and said a quick hello to Heimdall before heading to his brother’s quarters. Stark may not be allowing Cameron to know the truth, but he never said anything about what Loki could and could not know. He figured it was important for Loki to know the truth about the peculiar girl. He checked his brother’s quarters, and the God of Mischief was not there. He decided that he’d just try again later, he wasn’t in too big of a rush to share the news. He decided to find his father, ask how the trip to Jotunheim had gone. He found his father with his mother and brother. “Ahh, Thor, you’re just in time to hear the news,” Odin called, voice echoing through the space. “I’ve decided that it would best serve your brother well to send him to Midgard for a while. I believe if he truly understands these humans he tried to invade, he might see the wrong in his actions.” Both Thor and Loki looked at Odin in shock. This was most surprising to them, considering how welcome Loki would be on Earth. Maybe this was just Odin’s way of torturing the god.   
“I don’t understand.” Loki said, “Where will I stay?”  
“With the Avengers, of course!”   
“Do they know that I’ll be staying with them?”   
“I’ve contacted Steve Rogers, he agreed that it would be good for you.”   
“When am I leaving?”   
“The next time Thor goes to Earth.” 

Thor hadn’t moved throughout this entire exchange, he was too surprised. There was no way that Stark was going to like this, it would make it next to impossible to keep the secret from Cameron. Loki got up from his chair and left the room, clearly unhappy with the news. Thor stayed to chat with his parents awhile before going to find Loki. He’d waited for his brother to calm down, hopefully, so that he would take the news better. He opened the door to Loki’s chambers, not even bothering to knock.  
“What do you want, brother?”   
“I have new from Earth.”  
“And why exactly do you think I would care?”  
“I know you’ll care.”   
“Well, go on then, get this over with,” Loki said, setting down the book he had been reading.   
“Stark found your daughter.”   
Loki laughed. “I don’t have a daughter!”  
“The blood was a match. She hardly looks like you, and yet she looks everything like you.”  
“You’re lying!”  
“You know me better than that, brother! I wouldn’t lie about this.”   
Loki got up. “I must see this girl for myself!” He exclaimed, heading towards the doorway. Thor stopped him. “You’ll see her when we go to Earth. She does not know you’re her father, and we’d like to keep it that way.”   
“We? You sound like your dear old friend Stark now. Tell me, was it your idea or his to keep this a secret from her?”  
“It was his, though I have to say, he was pretty convincing in his argument as to why.”   
“Was he now? And what was it that he said that was so convincing?”   
“You’re dangerous. It would only hurt Cameron to know that you’re her father.”   
“Ahh, so her name’s Cameron, then.”   
“Yes, and she’s young, you cannot harm her.”   
“Well, let’s go to Earth and meet this daughter of mine.” 

2517 words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter took forever and was really hard to write but i hope you liked it
> 
> -  
> daisy


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dragon

chapter eight: dragon breath  
song: far too young to die -- panic! at the disco

It was Friday when Cameron thought about the Avengers again. She’d managed to push all of her thoughts about the group of superheroes out of her head. It was English class and she was not paying any attention. She hadn’t been paying much attention to any of her classes, really, she found them easy. Her mind would drift instead, thinking about anything but where she was. That was how she’d ended up thinking about the Avengers. She had promised Tony that she’d show up at some point tomorrow, and she was currently regretting the decision. She didn’t want the Avengers to be part of her life if she didn’t need them to be, and she didn’t. She could deal with everything in her life just fine without adding all the crazy of the Avengers into it. 

She’d run into Peter a few times that week, mostly due to the fact that their lockers were right next to each other. Peter always seemed to be watching her. Every time she saw him, his eyes were on her. She figured he was curious, her trip to the tower hadn’t given him much information. Of course, she was right. He was curious. When the bell rang, he was already at his locker, shoving his books into his backpack. As soon as she opened her locker, his eyes shot up. “So, you’re coming to the tower tomorrow, right?” He asked awkwardly. 

“That’s the plan.” She sighed, digging through her locker in hopes of finding the pen that she’d lost. She sighed, unable to find the pen. She began to pack up her things, trying to think of what she actually needed this weekend. When she finished, she couldn’t close her backpack. She groaned. His day had been one inconvenience after another. She pulled her math textbook out of her backpack, deciding she’d carry it instead. “See you tomorrow,” Peter called as she shuffled away. She mumbled a response before plugging in her earbuds, drowning out all of the other noise. 

She arrived home just as Rachel and John did. They got out of the car and John raced to the door. The week had not brought any less hate from the small boy. Rachel unlocked the front door and the boy hurried over to the counter, waiting for his mother to make him a snack. It was amazing to Cameron how dependent this boy was on his mother. She sat down at the counter as well, Rachel had told her that she should do her homework downstairs, socialize more or something like that. Cameron had agreed, simply because Rachel was trying and Cameron figured she might as well listen. It had become a routine over the past few days, and even though it was Friday and Cameron didn’t have to do her homework, she was just starting to feel comfortable in this routine. Her phone buzzed. Tony Stark. 

Tony Stark: What time are you coming to the tower tomorrow, Pepper wants to know.   
Cameron: I dunno, whenever I can get a ride or walk over.   
Tony Stark: I can send a car for you if you want.  
Cameron: Yes, thanks.   
Tony Stark: Happy will be there at 10 am.   
Cameron: Thanks.

She’d figured she was going to walk. It wasn’t too far and she could use a walk to clear her head. That, and she didn’t want to bother the Taylors any more than she already had. She finished her math homework and headed up to her room. 

She slept better that night than she had in weeks. Maybe it was the fact that she was finally settling into her new home, or maybe it was just luck. But she woke up at nine forty-five the next morning, the latest she’d slept in a long time. She sat up in her bed, pulling the blankets from on top of her and checked the clock. She smiled, but only for a second before she remembered. Happy was picking her up in fifteen minutes. The moment of satisfaction was over as quick as it had come. She rushed out of bed and threw on the first shirt and pair of pants she found. She pulled her shoes on as fast as she could. She half-ran a comb through her hair before rushing down the stairs. She’d packed her bag the night before so as to not waste time this morning. All she had to do was grab breakfast and she was ready, thankfully. She raced into the kitchen. 

“What’s got you in such a rush this morning?” Mr. Taylor asked from the table.   
“I’m late.” She said quickly, opening the pantry. She dug through the shelves, looking for a granola bar or something that she could eat quickly.   
“Late for what?”   
“Something important.”   
“And what is that exactly.” 

She’d been getting the feeling that he didn’t trust her. He was constantly asking questions about her life.  
“I’m going back to the Avengers tower.” She sighed, returning from the pantry.   
“And when will you be back?”  
“I don’t know, whenever they drive me back.”   
“Drive you?”   
“Well, I didn’t exactly want to walk.”   
“We could have taken you.”   
“I didn’t want to bother you.” 

He sighed and she left the room. She had five minutes before she was supposed to be picked up. She sat outside on the doorstep and waited. 

Happy picked her up on time, they got to the tower quickly, everything seemed normal. Well, as normal as a teenage girl with superpowers going to visit the Avengers could possibly be. The next thing she knew, Cameron was in the living room of the Avengers Tower. She dropped her bag next to the couch.   
“So what am I even doing here?” She questioned.   
“I figured we could do some training.” Steve said, getting up from the counter. “I’d like to know the full scope of your powers and there’s no better way to find out than through training.” 

Cameron smiled a little. Training with Captain America was most definitely not something she ever thought she’d do in her life. She followed him down a few floors.  
“You know, I trained with Natasha last time I was here.”  
“I know. I was planning some other things for today. I want to focus on your powers.”

Cameron sighed. She didn’t particularly like using her powers. It made her feel uneasy. Almost as if she was a ticking time bomb that could explode at any second. And she didn’t want to explode in front of Steve Rogers.   
“Do you have a problem with that?”   
“No, none at all.” She pasted a smile on her face. 

He led her to room with metal walls. There was a window in one of the walls that appeared to connect the metal room to one for viewing. A look of confusion passed through her face. This was most definitely not where she’d been the last time she’d trained here. 

“I’m gonna project some targets on the wall and I just want you to use your powers against them,” Steve said, turning to leave the room. He walked out of a door and reappeared seconds later on the other side of the window. Cameron frowned. She didn’t like this. It took a minute for Steve to get the program used for the targets up and running and so Cameron stood awkwardly for a moment. But then they were there and Cameron didn’t quite know what to do. She didn’t really know what Steve was expecting her to do. She decided to start with a punch. She sent all of the heat she possibly could into her hand and watched as it ignited. Cameron let the flames build for a second before slamming her fist into one of the targets projected on the wall. When she pulled her fist away, the was a sizable dent in the wall, slightly melted metal dripping from it.   
A satisfied smile flashed across her face before she turned to Steve who looked slightly shocked. “Is that what you wanted?” She called, not sure if he could hear her through the glass. Steve pressed a button and began speaking over an intercom, “That was good. I’ll be right back.” He rushed out of the room, leaving Cameron confused. She had no idea what he was doing, or more importantly, what she was supposed to do while he was gone. She decided she’d work on a trick she’d been teaching herself. Now that she was warmed up, it would be a lot easier. 

A few months ago, she’d discovered that she could breathe fire. Of course, she could really ignite any part of her body, however, breathing fire was not something she’d been aware that she could do. Granted, it was really hard for her, she was working on it. She’d found it was easier to do when she’d already been playing with her powers. And that it took a lot of energy. She closed her eyes and focused on bringing all of the heat and energy she could to her mouth. And then she went for it, completely unsure if it would work at all. But to her luck, it did. She opened her eyes, and there it was, a steady stream of fire coming out of her face. And straight into the wall. But then she couldn’t stop. She tried to close her mouth, but the energy was too strong. She was melting the wall and she couldn’t stop herself. She heard somebody talking, but she didn’t dare turn to see who it was, she’d just bring the flames with her and towards whoever was speaking. 

It was kind of hilarious, really. She was breathing fire like some stupid dragon or something. And yet, it was anything but funny. She put all of her energy into closing her mouth and after two more attempts, she finally got it to stop. So much for control. She turned to the window. Steve was back but he wasn’t alone. This time, Tony and Thor were there, along with another man she couldn’t recognize. Tony spoke into the intercom, “Wow, pyro, I didn’t know you were secretly a dragon.” He smirked. Cameron looked him dead in the eye and winked. She walked over to the door and let herself out of the room. She looked at the unknown man,   
“Who’re you?” she asked.   
“You don’t recognize me? I’m the God of Mischief, you know.”  
“You mean the guy who tried to take over the world?”  
“That’s me.” 

She looked at him for a second and smirked, “I’d never have guessed. I always thought Loki, the great God of Mischief would be intimidating, not this sad weak man.”  
Thor let out a chuckle and Loki was taken aback. He had not expected that response. Usually, humans, particularly the smaller ones, were afraid of him. Instead, this girl, his daughter, stood before him, completely unafraid of him.   
“Why is a child such as yourself here anyway?” He changed the subject.   
“That’s a good question for the dude who brought me here in the first place.” She pointed at Tony.   
“Oh, Cameron, you know exactly why you’re here.” Tony protested.   
“I’m here because you’re afraid I pose a threat. Me, a small little girl who just wants to live a semi-normal life.”   
“You, a kid, with superpowers that we have no idea the magnitude of! You could hardly control them just a second ago when you were pulling your dragon tricks.”   
“The trick that I initiated, the one that I’m practicing so that I can gain control of it, the one that I only do when I try.” She paused. “I know how to control my powers, but I also know that I’ll never have full control of them which is why I practice my new tricks so that I can learn how to use them, and more importantly, how not to use them.” 

Loki was somewhat amazed. In the matter of minutes he’d seen his daughter, she’d managed to surprise him quite a lot. She wasn’t intimidated by him, she had superpowers, but not just any powers, fire powers, the exact opposite of what would be expected because of his Jotun heritage, and she was smart. She knew how to control her words so that she could get her point across, even when she was clearly agitated by Tony Stark. He wished he could tell her who he was to her. Who she was. But he figured he’d play by Stark’s rules, at least for a little while. If he were to tell her who she is right now, he’d probably never see her again. No, he would wait until the right moment. And then, he’d welcome her into the crazy world that is his life. And then, maybe he’d have someone who actually cared about him. Maybe he’d have his daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay another chapter
> 
> should i make the chapters longer?
> 
> \--  
> daisy

**Author's Note:**

> Soo here's the first chapter of this, you don't really meet the Avengers till about chapter three or four but one and two are backstory
> 
> \--  
> daisy


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